I want to lead here by talking
a little bit about my credentials
to bring this up with you,
because, quite honestly,
you really, really should not listen
to any old person with an opinion
about COVID-19.
(Laughter)
So I've been working in global health
for about 20 years,
and my specific technical specialty
is in health systems
and what happens when health systems
experience severe shocks.
I've also worked
in global health journalism,
I've written about
global health and biosecurity
for newspapers and web outlets,
and I published a book a few years back
about the major global health threats
facing us as a planet.
I have supported and led
epidemiology efforts
that range from evaluating
Ebola treatment centers
to looking at transmission
of tuberculosis in health facilities,
and doing avian influenza preparedness.
I have a Masters Degree
in International Health.
I'm not a physician. I'm not a nurse.
My specialty isn't patient care
or taking care of individual people.
My specialty is looking at populations
and health systems:
what happens when diseases
move on the large level.
If we're ranking sources
of global health expertise
on a scale of one to 10,
one is some random person
ranting on Facebook
and 10 is the World Health Organization,
I'd say you can probably put me
at like a seven or an eight.
So keep that in mind as I talk to you.